If you follow me on twitter then you might’ve noticed the new hashtag I’m using: #walkandlisten. I created this hashtag after trying and observing other successful people’s morning routines. I’ve always struggled with getting out of bed in the morning and this was because I had a lack of purpose. Anything that I would plan for the next morning, I would just push off and get that extra sleep in. I needed something that was truly worth getting out of bed for. I started diving heavily into audiobooks over COVID quarantine. I would listen to these books while relaxing or mowing the law. I definitely feel like I’ve been reaping the benefits of this gained knowledge and it’s greatly enhanced my work life. I then looked to a different aspect of my life that I was struggling with, my health. My workout routine was sporadic and weight was getting out of control. Then, I looked at something else that I started during quarantine, walking. I would go on walks with my wife and dogs. These walks were great and helped us stay productive during our time in quarantine, and it felt great. It’s a great exercise but would often get cut short because of the dogs. I really enjoyed my walks and I really enjoy listening to my books. Why not combine them? This was my lightbulb moment for starting my hashtag #walkandlisten. Since starting the hashtag, I have finished 4 books. That puts me on path to crush my goal of 40 books this year. I’ve also been seeing benefits on the physical side as well. Here are the stats from my Oura Ring that show how my body is adapting to the extra physical activity. 

Now why tell you this story? I feel that “and” helps create passion for whatever you are doing. I see players struggle in baseball when they can’t give an “and” for why they are involved in the sport. In professional baseball, you see those who are only in it for the money struggle. In college baseball, you see those that struggle who are only playing the game because they are good and they’ve always done it. You see those at every level who only love the game but do not have the level of skill to succeed at the level that they are at. We can change the level of happiness and maybe even success level of these individuals by adding an “and” to why they are playing the game of baseball at that current time. The three reasons to play baseball that I stated above are money, skill and love. When looking at college baseball- there are two “and’s” that I believe that we can add as coaches. Those two are love and skill. I believe that through a healthy team culture we can add love of the game. The healthy cultures that I have been around are when I loved the game of baseball the most. I think that player development is the way we can bring skill. I think that Vanderbilt is a great example of doing a great job of adding these two reasons for playing the game of baseball. Tim Corbin has built a culture that the majority of players love playing there, and have nothing but good things to say about being a part of the program. Then you look at the facilities at Vanderbilt and see why they are great at player development. They invest in their players and it shows on the field. I try to add my “and” in my life and to my players’ life. 

Life is more complex and when you can add your “and”, do it. It can be in the form of habit stacking like I explained above. James Clear, author of “Atomic Habits”, does a great job in his blog talking about habit stacking. He uses the term “after” to describe habit stacking. Here is the link to his blog, How to Build New Habits by Taking Advantage of Old Ones

 The second way is adding purpose to your life. If you are at your job and you can’t add an ‘and” to why you are there, it might be time to leave that job. We all should strive to evaluate our lives as much as we can so we have our “and”.